This invention relates generally to earth-working vehicles and, more particularly, to a tire protector assembly for earth-working vehicles such as wheel loaders.
It is a common practice in wheel loaders to have a loader bucket movable between a lower position for picking up material and an upper position for transporting the material. Commonly, the loader bucket is as wide as the lateral span of the wheels. However, due to the large size of today's earth-working machines, the loader bucket is often wider than the length or width of the bed of a dump truck. Hence, when material is dumped from the loader bucket into the truckbed or into other areas having a width the same or smaller than the width of the loader bucket, considerably spillage can result. In order to avoid this spillage problem, the relatively wide bucket is temporarily removed from the lift arms of the loader and replaced with a narrower bucket having a width which is approximately 30 percent narrower than the truck bed length. However, when such a narrow bucket is used, the tires of the loader are not protected by the bucket since the loader was designed to employ a wide bucket. As a result, the tires become vulnerable to damage.
The tires employed in a wheel loader of this type are very large and very expensive. Nevertheless, they are easily damaged. When the loader is used for digging with the bucket lowered to a position adjacent the ground, the loader is driven forwardly into the material to be picked up, thereby moving the tires directly into the material. Normally the buckets would clear a path through which the tires would move. If a narrow bucket is employed, the path cleared is not as wide as the lateral span of the tires. Therefore, the tires are traveling over an area which may have rocks and other hazardous material which has not been removed by the bucket and could easily ruin the tread on the tires or puncture the tires. Because replacement or repair of this type of tire is both expensive and time-consuming, subjecting the tires to this type of hazard is highly undesirable.